How To Place a Dialog

Level: Intermediate

by Ken Lewis Sr. [http://libertyforge.oldsouthforge.com/]

Home

Close Multiple Windows

HOW TO Place a dialog (or dialog_modal) window where you want it.

Over and over we see people wanting to know how to get a dialog window to display where they want it to, instead of where it wants to. This is the way that I place a dialog window, where I want it.

To begin with I remove the VISIBLE style from the window.

    Stylebits #main, 0, _WS_VISIBLE, 0, 0

Next we set up our window, it’s contents and open it. With the VISIBLE style removed the window will not show.

    WindowWidth = 305
    WindowHeight = 100
    UpperLeftX=int((DisplayWidth-WindowWidth)/2)
    UpperLeftY=int((DisplayHeight-WindowHeight)/2)

    Button #main.OK, "Save", [newFilter], UL, 85, 25
    Button #main.close, "Close", [unFilter], UL, 165, 25
    Open "Edit Stage List" For dialog_modal As #main
    Print #main, "font fixedsys 9"
    Print #main, "trapclose [unFilter]"

We finish out the initial code by getting the handle of our dialog window, and calling the subs that will move and show our window.

    fHwnd=Hwnd(#main)

    Call locateWindow fHwnd, UpperLeftX, UpperLeftY, WindowWidth, WindowHeight
    Call showItNow, fHwnd

    Wait

Now the important part. The sub to relocate our dialog window. We will use the Windows API call MoveWindow found in user32.dll. Our sub is called locateWindow.

Sub locateWindow hWnd, ULx, ULy, WW, WH
    Calldll #user32, "MoveWindow",_
        hWnd As ULong,_	'the handle to our dialog window
        ULx As Long,_		'upper left x for our window placement
        ULy As Long,_		'upper left y for our window placement
        WW As Long,_		'our window width
        WH As Long,_		'our window height
        1 As Long,_		    'repaint=1
        success As Long		'return value non-zero denotes success
End Sub

Last but not least, we will show our window, now that we have moved it to where we like it. This is done in the showItNow sub, using the Windows API call ShowWindow found in user32.dll.

Sub showItNow hWnd
    Calldll #user32, "ShowWindow",_
        hWnd As ULong,_	'the handle to our dialog window
        1 As Long,_		'1=show 0=hide
        success As Long		'return value non-zero denotes success
End Sub

I hope this makes life, (or at least programming), easier for someone.

Ken

DEMO

    Stylebits #main, 0, _WS_VISIBLE, 0, 0
    WindowWidth = 305
    WindowHeight = 100
    UpperLeftX=int((DisplayWidth-WindowWidth)/2)
    UpperLeftY=int((DisplayHeight-WindowHeight)/2)

    Button #main.OK, "Save", [newFilter], UL, 85, 25
    Button #main.close, "Close", [unFilter], UL, 165, 25
    Open "Edit Stage List" For dialog_modal As #main
    Print #main, "font fixedsys 9"
    Print #main, "trapclose [unFilter]"
    fHwnd=Hwnd(#main)

    Call locateWindow fHwnd, UpperLeftX, UpperLeftY, WindowWidth, WindowHeight
    Call showItNow, fHwnd

    Wait

[newFilter] wait
[unFilter] close #main:end

Sub locateWindow hWnd, ULx, ULy, WW, WH
    Calldll #user32, "MoveWindow",_
        hWnd As ULong,_    'the handle to our dialog window
        ULx As Long,_        'upper left x for our window placement
        ULy As Long,_        'upper left y for our window placement
        WW As Long,_        'our window width
        WH As Long,_        'our window height
        1 As Long,_            'repaint=1
        success As Long        'return value non-zero denotes success
End Sub

Sub showItNow hWnd
    Calldll #user32, "ShowWindow",_
        hWnd As ULong,_    'the handle to our dialog window
        1 As Long,_        '1=show 0=hide
        success As Long        'return value non-zero denotes success
End Sub